General Care Discussion :: I need shedding help/advice

[meltedspork]

Ok guys, I need help/advice. I've tried just about everything I can think of but I can't get Toby to shed. His shell looks like it is just flaking off in tiny pieces instead of whole shutes. I have had Toby for 8 months now and he hasn't shed any shutes at all.

Toby is 5" and is in a 55g with proper temps/basking area/lighting/filtering/etc... I try to be the best turtle mommy I can be. He eats a mix of Reptomin and HBH Turtle Bites every other day and gets Red Leaf lettuce daily (only greens I can get him to eat). He also has cuttlebone in his tank at all times (he eats about 1 whole cuttlebone per month). He has heat and UVB (compact flourescent) over his basking area plus an extra UVB (tube flourescent) over the other half of the tank where his resting area is.

I have TRIED to get him to eat the suggested fruits/veggies with vitamin E to help him shed. He REFUSES to eat blueberries, sweet potato, or tomato. He will eat apple skin but not a lot of it.

How often is it safe to feed him apple skin? Is there any other way to get the vitamin E to him? What else can I do? I try to take him outside for natural sunlight whenever possible, but it's now starting to get too cold for that.

Here are some pics of his shell. If you touch his shell it feels bumpy/rough like really dry skin or something. He has no soft spots or discolored spots. His shell is gunky looking because when I got him he was COVERED in algae and I can't quite seem to get all of it off.





























Sorry for all the pics, I just wanted to be REALLY thorough

[JimmyJam]

Wow, I'm no expert but from the looks of his shell he looks like he may have some kind of infection on his shell.

[RESnTX]

I'm no expert on shell conditions either but I have an idea for getting him to eat veggies. When you give him veggies, other than lettuce, do you cut it up into small pieces? Blueberries are the only whole fruit mine will eat. For carrots or tomatoes I cut it up to the size of pellets. I don't have any idea why it helps, but it does. You may also have to consider trying a little "tough love" to get him to like his veggies.

[BullDog]

I'm in the same boat as you. I've had Frankie for about 8 months, and still she's retaining scutes (also refuses blueberries, etc.). I've had a bit of luck with apple skins and sweet pot, but that's it.

I'm just playing the waiting game, hoping that they'll eventually come off. They have lifted more since I first got her, but not a significant amount.

[zoologist]

i dont want to keep pushing my jello shots on everyone (oh heck, yes i do) but have you tried them? maybe if you cut down the recipe to 1/4 and only use pellets, sweet potato, tuna, blueberries, lettuce and apple skins he may be willing to try it.
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17486

after looking at his shell, it seems like his scutes are trying to shed fully, but they're not ready yet. the fact that they're lifting off of his shell in what seems to be a full scute makes me think that he'll be fine the next time he has a good shed.

i dont know any other way to prompt him to shed other then picking the scutes off and you know thats a big no-no..... hm....

[meltedspork]

I'm no expert on shell conditions either but I have an idea for getting him to eat veggies. When you give him veggies, other than lettuce, do you cut it up into small pieces? Blueberries are the only whole fruit mine will eat. For carrots or tomatoes I cut it up to the size of pellets. I don't have any idea why it helps, but it does. You may also have to consider trying a little "tough love" to get him to like his veggies.

I've tried just about everything I can think of. I've tried putting them in whole, putting slices in his veggie clip, chopping them up in little pieces, he's so stubborn! He loves red leaf lettuce and will eat tons of it, but nothing else! He will eat a little bit of apple peel if I put it in his veggie clip and a little bit of carrot if I shred it.

I'm in the same boat as you. I've had Frankie for about 8 months, and still she's retaining scutes (also refuses blueberries, etc.). I've had a bit of luck with apple skins and sweet pot, but that's it.

I'm just playing the waiting game, hoping that they'll eventually come off. They have lifted more since I first got her, but not a significant amount..

Good to know I'm not the only one! I guess I'll just have to hope that he eventually has a real shed.

i dont want to keep pushing my jello shots on everyone (oh heck, yes i do) but have you tried them? maybe if you cut down the recipe to 1/4 and only use pellets, sweet potato, tuna, blueberries, lettuce and apple skins he may be willing to try it.
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17486

after looking at his shell, it seems like his scutes are trying to shed fully, but they're not ready yet. the fact that they're lifting off of his shell in what seems to be a full scute makes me think that he'll be fine the next time he has a good shed.

i dont know any other way to prompt him to shed other then picking the scutes off and you know thats a big no-no..... hm....

Duh! I forgot about your jello recipe! I wasn't even thinking about using it to get Toby to eat his vitamin E... good idea! I'm going to give it a shot next time I go grocery shopping.

I am so tempted to pick off his shutes but I would NEVER do it. I'll just have to hope that I can get him some more vitamin E and that he will eventually have a good shed.

I want him to have a nice pretty shell! I can see there is one under there!

[grey goose]

From the looks of it, I'd say you are definitely over feeding....too much protein. I managed to get my Gomie in the same predicament by going overboard with the pellets when she started eating again. She had the same large gap on her plasteron and her scutes just kept building up without shedding. Since then I've cut her back and gave her as much cuttlebone as she wants. The gaps in her plasteron thinned out but she is still having a tough time shedding.

[queenjane]

My baby turtle (2 inches) is shedding skin, not scutes... His skin on his legs and neck is flaking off in long sheets. I assume this is a normal part of growth, but is there anything I should be doing differently during this time?

Also, is shedding worsened by too much protein in the diet?

[meltedspork]

From the looks of it, I'd say you are definitely over feeding....too much protein. I managed to get my Gomie in the same predicament by going overboard with the pellets when she started eating again. She had the same large gap on her plasteron and her scutes just kept building up without shedding. Since then I've cut her back and gave her as much cuttlebone as she wants. The gaps in her plasteron thinned out but she is still having a tough time shedding.

He has had the wide gaps since I got him about 8 months ago. I feed him a head size amount of pellets (mix of Reptomin and HBH Turtle Bites) every other day. You think I should cut it down to like 2/3 of his head size, or even half his head size? Maybe I'm bad at estimating pellets vs. head size. I'll cut down what I give him though, thanks!

[steve]

I don't think I've seen a shell like that before. Has it always been like that?

Whatever it is... it is troubling that it is all over like that. It's not shedding the normal thin layers because there's not much of it there.

On the bright side, it does not look very deep, though the carapace looks better than the plastron. If this is not some sort of on-going infection or disorder, one or two heavy sheds might make a world of difference.

You definitely need to find out what caused it and I think some patience will pay off.

[Blue Flamingo]

My turtle Ivan’s shell was kinda like that and it took her forever to shed it all off. I agree with Steve just be patient. Also how often do you see him actually basking?

[grey goose]

My baby turtle (2 inches) is shedding skin, not scutes... His skin on his legs and neck is flaking off in long sheets. I assume this is a normal part of growth, but is there anything I should be doing differently during this time?

Also, is shedding worsened by too much protein in the diet?

Excessive skin shedding can be caused by water thats too warm or overfeeding or both. Water temps for a healthy 2 incher should be about 78-80......small whitish or translucent pieces coming off are normal but large dark pieces are not. Is his basking?

[meltedspork]

I don't think I've seen a shell like that before. Has it always been like that?

Whatever it is... it is troubling that it is all over like that. It's not shedding the normal thin layers because there's not much of it there.

On the bright side, it does not look very deep, though the carapace looks better than the plastron. If this is not some sort of on-going infection or disorder, one or two heavy sheds might make a world of difference.

You definitely need to find out what caused it and I think some patience will pay off.

It has been like that since I got him I believe. I'll be honest, I didn't get a really good look at his shell until recently. He was COVERED in algae when I got him, and I was scared to scrub too hard to get it off, plus he hated it when I tried to brush him. He slowly got used to me cleaning his shell and now he doesn't seem to mind it. So I finally got most all of the algae off, but I think it was so hard to get off because it was embedded in all the little pits in his shutes.

It doesn't look deep, and from what I can see underneath, his shell looks good. He was kept in a small tank with only about 4 inches of water and no UVB light before I got him. He also was fed only pellets and sometimes feeder fish (goldfish I believe). I also don't think he basked very much. I'm thinking that his previous environment must have been the cause of it.

Do you think I should take him to a vet to check it out, or give him some time to shed first?

My turtle Ivan’s shell was kinda like that and it took her forever to shed it all off. I agree with Steve just be patient. Also how often do you see him actually basking?

Her shell does look like Toby's shell! I'm glad to see something similar.

I see him basking most everyday. He usually is either basking when I get home from work or later on in the evening. If he is basking when I'm going to bed, I'll leave the lights on for him because I want him to bask as much as possible! Sometimes he basks just for a few minutes, sometimes for a few hours (he sleeps on his dock sometimes).

[grey goose]

Its good that he's basking but try to keep him on a schedule (12 on 12 off, maybe a little bit longer considering his shell). I give Gomie as much cuttlebone as she wants, sometimes she eats it all, sometimes she ignores it.
It going to be a while before you see any improvement and several months before it clears up. Gomie's shell has improved but it's taking forever for her to shed her scutes.......

[steve]

Hey Blue, was Ivan's plastron like that as well? I never saw large pics, so I had thought those were hard water stains.

And meltedspork, did your turtle have algae on his plastron as well?